How to prepare for sowing seedlings

It seems that recently dacha growers have done the last works in the garden and vegetable garden: covered trees and other plants for the winter, conducted autumn watering. But now it is time to prepare for the new season.

How and when to prepare seedlings, soil, as well as what seeds you should look for now, we will tell you in this article.

Do it in advance: check-list of a dacha grower

In order not to be late with sowing, prepare everything you need in January. Determine which plants you will grow through seedlings, in what quantity to buy soil for seedlings. Most often in this way grow tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, zucchini, Peking cabbage, root parsley, pumpkin, patissons, white and cauliflower, melissa. 

What’s next?

  1. Buy seeds. Thanks to high-quality packaging, seeds are well stored and can withstand transportation. But experts recommend: it is best to buy seeds for tomato, cucumber, pepper and eggplant seedlings in January-February.
  2. Prepare soil for plants. Suitable as purchased (for seedlings), and homemade, from a mixture of vegetable garden soil, humus, peat, sand. Home soil for seedlings must necessarily disinfect: warm in a hot oven or pour potassium permanganate. Soil mixture should be loose, porous, hygroscopic and have a pH of 6,6-7,0.
  3. Prepare tools – pots, boxes, lamps. Containers for seedlings should be clean. In winter, there is little sun, and young plants need it especially acutely, so it is best to buy special phytolamps. They have all the necessary spectra and are as close as possible to natural sunlight. You can also use fluorescent daylight lamps with a cool spectrum.
  4. Plan your sowing dates. Buy a lunar calendar in advance, mark auspicious days and plan which plants you will sow on those days.

When to prepare seedlings: calendar of activities

To avoid missing anything, use this calendar.

  • January. Prepare everything you need for sowing: containers, soil, sprayer and watering can. Pick the seeds of plants, check them for germination and disinfect them before sowing.
  • February. In early February you can sow seeds of the following plants for seedlings: root celery, in the second decade of the month – eggplants, peppers, tomatoes of late varieties. After February 20, start growing root parsley.
  • March. In the beginning of the month you can plant seeds for seedlings of early and medium varieties of tomatoes, and after March 10 – cauliflower and white cabbage, leeks.
  • April. Until the 15th of the day have time to sow seeds for seedlings of marjoram, lettuce, melissa. After April 15 start sowing cucumbers for planting in the open ground.

This is important to know at all stages of growing petunia seedlings: from seed to planting in the ground.

To make petunia grow a beautiful dense bush, there were no problems with seedlings, and the blooms were happy longer and more, you do not need to know much. In fact, there are a few important procedures, performing in time, you will not make many mistakes and get the most real “flower harvest”.

In general, this year I myself have not even sown petunia yet – last year’s experience showed that in our region the best time is the first half of March. But reading the comments under the articles, I see that many people have already made this first step towards a beautiful garden. Someone decided to take it for the first time. Today’s article will be a real quintessence of my knowledge about petunia. I will briefly tell you what you need to do with petunias from the stage of sowing to planting in the ground.

How to sow properly

Let’s start from the very beginning. Petunias should be sown without soaking and stratification of seeds. Simply put – you bought a bag, immediately opened and planted.

At the sprouting stage, the soil is best suited to petunias as loose as possible, as the roots will be quite thin and it will be difficult for them to get through the dense substrate.

Before sowing the soil should be moistened, then carefully lay out the seeds on it and place in warm conditions (warm, light and humid). Periodically, the crops should be ventilated and sprayed with soil. Full-fledged watering is not necessary at this stage.

Seeds have sprouted – what next????

Under the right conditions, seeds can take from 3 to 7 days to sprout. The most important point here is not to miss when a green shoot sprouts and remove the pot from the greenhouse.

Petunia shoots under the film will stretch to the light much faster because of the increased humidity and if you do not remove the film in time, the seedling will immediately become elongated.

When to feed?

You can start feeding petunias from the stage of 3-4 true leaves (which come after two seedlings).

If you don’t care at all, you can feed petunias with universal fertilizers (their NPK ratio is the same) during the whole process of growing seed lings.

In general, it is better to fertilize plants for the first time for the development of the root system (fertilizers with a high phosphorus content), and then alternate universal fertilizers and nitrogen-containing compositions (to build up the green mass).

If you have additional lighting (phytolamps) – feeding can be done once a week, if petunias just stand on the window sill – once every two weeks is enough (as plants without additional lighting will develop a little slower).

Picking

I do not believe that this process is mandatory in the case of growing petunias. Moreover, at the stage when it has to be done, petunias have such thin and weak roots that they can easily be damaged so that the plant dies. Do you want to do that?

Pinching

No matter what anyone says about the self-branching modern varieties, pinching any petunia varieties at the seedling stage will only benefit them. The rule should work here : plucked – fertilized with nitrogen-containing preparations. In this way you will provoke the growth of new shoots and the petunia will be more lush.

Don’t forget that each pinched (there is no such word, but you know what I mean) shoot is a future plant, so root it safely.

Cuttings

Everything that has been pinched, you can root and by the time of planting seedlings, you can get an already formed plant. Of course, they will become lush a little later, but the summer is long, and you have in your hands – free planting material.

Remove the lower pair of leaves from the cuttings, dip them in rooting agent and plant them in moistened soil. Cover it with a transparent film and place it under a lamp. As soon as the cuttings get stronger (you can tell by the new leaves) – the film can be safely removed.

Transplanting into a larger pot

When the roots come out of the drainage holes and fill the bulk of the soil, petunias should be transplanted into larger containers. If you don’t do this, they will stunt their growth.

At least 1-2 transplants should be done before the planting stage. Then petunia will already be a good and large bush by the time it is planted.

Flowers are superfluous

No matter how much you want to see beautiful flowers at home, petunias should be cut off.

At the initial stage, the plant spends energy on them and slows down its growth. When there are already a lot of flowers, petunia stops growing properly and begins to bend only buds, and before planting we need a good shape, lushness of leaves and root power.

At the stage when buds appear, do not overuse fertilizers with a high content of potassium and phosphorus. 

That’s how, very, very briefly, without detailing, I tried to touch on the most important moments in the life of petunias at home. In the future I will grow petunias from a seed to beautiful flowering bushes before your eyes and tell you in detail about each of the stages in separate articles, but for those who will run ahead of me – this article will be a cheat sheet.

Rules of propagation of rose bushes by division method for beginners

Rose is a popular crop known for its high decorative qualities. Most dacha growers would like to see their plot drowned in lush rose flowers. I have been growing varieties for more than one year, propagating them in various ways. Today I would like to talk about dividing the bush.

Features of the method

This is an effective method that helps not only to get a new plant, but also to rejuvenate the garden or home bush.

I want to immediately note that the method will not be suitable for grafted varieties, but only for those that have their own root system.

The most suitable time

To the procedure I recommend starting in the fall or early spring, before the active sap movement begins and buds appear.

I carry out the event in early April.

Preparing tools

For dividing the bush, I recommend preparing:

  • shovel;
  • pruning shears;
  • axe.

All tools should be sharp and the pruning shears should be well disinfected with alcohol or a saturated solution of manganese. This is necessary so that it leaves an even cut and does not traumatize the plant, and pathogenic bacteria do not get into the wound and do not provoke the rotting process.
I immediately cover the place of the cut with garden varnish.

If the rose bush is too big, I pry it up and use an axe.

Selecting and preparing the bush

I advise you to choose an overgrown bush with a large number of shoots. The plant should be strong and healthy, without signs of disease and insect damage. Possess high decorative qualities.

The evening before the procedure, I carry out pruning of the bush, removing excess branches. This is necessary so that the shoots do not interfere with the division procedure and do not take away nutrients from young plants.

I cover the places of cuts with garden varnish, the soil around the plant abundantly moisten.

The next evening I proceed directly to division.

Shrub division

To successfully carry out the procedure, I recommend following this sequence of actions:

  1. Dig out the roots and free them from the ground. If the bush is too large, I recommend that you dig it up beforehand.
  2. I slip a shovel under it and press on it as a lever. The plant is slightly raised. I note that in this case, a certain amount of roots remain in the soil. This is not terrible, the plant will quickly recover. From large offshoots in the future, new bushes can grow.
  3. I divide the main root into several parts using a sharp tool. I act in such a way that one bud remains on each part.

Next, proceed to rooting the plot.

Rooting

I arrange the plot immediately in a permanent place. I choose a site with good light and fertile soil, protected from drafts.

I dig the place for planting on 2 bayonets of a shovel and apply fertilizers:

  • wood ash;
  • compost;
  • manure.

Roots are dipped in clay plaster with the addition of cowdung, then planted so that the root neck was at the same level with the soil.

Further, I organize abundant watering and actively mulch with one of the components:

  • humus;
  • compost;
  • peat.

As soon as the plants take root and start to grow, I introduce a small amount of mineral fertilizers.

Already in a year in this place will grow a full-fledged bush, and in two it will begin to bloom actively.

So, multiply the rose by dividing the bush is not difficult. It is enough to find a lush plant and with the help of a sharp tool to separate from it a part. The procedure allows you not only to get a new rose, preserving all the maternal varietal qualities, but also rejuvenate the old bush. If all the rules are observed, the new rose will begin to bloom in two years.

And how do you propagate the rose? Share your experience in the comments.

How to revitalize roses in spring, so that they bloom lushly all summer long

The exact method of bringing rose bushes out of winter dormancy in the spring and preparing them for the growing season will vary somewhat depending on your region and the type of roses you grow.

However, there are four tasks that most gardeners will perform in one form or another to resurrect roses and prepare them for summer blooms.

To survive the winter, roses need special care and the care of the owner. And after the cold weather, it is necessary to help the plant to recover and come to its senses as soon as possible.

In most cold growing climates, roses have been protected from winter cold, and early spring is usually the time to remove the cover you applied last fall.

You should only remove the rose cover when you are certain that there will be no return frosts and subsequent thawing that will cause the tender rose shoots to die.

Roses die not from cold, but from repeated freeze-thaw cycles that severely damage plant tissue.

In fact, covering roses is not frost protection, but rather keeping roses frozen until the danger of frost-thaw cycling is gone.

In the fall, do not cover roses until you are sure that warm days will no longer be interrupted by frosty nights.
Like most plants, roses like a good fertilization in the spring after active growth has begun. The fertilizer should be dominated by nitrogen for fast growth.
For roses to bloom abundantly and lushly throughout the season, they should be fed with both organic and mineral fertilizers. At the same time, it is necessary to alternate fertilization to avoid an overabundance of certain nutrients.
read more